I have never really liked doing link programs. If you yourself have never worked a link program and I mean really getting your hands dirty with it, not farming it out to India, you would not understand just how awfully difficult it actually is to get quality inbound links. It is even harder to get inbound links on request without paying for them.
In the real world of getting links, and I mean the real world not using a link farm tool or a reciprocal link exchange database, the contact and followup is hugely time consuming. The results are spotty to be kind and typically of poor quality and response average is miserable. I evaluated a link program done by another firm recently for a skeptical client. They had been billed $800 a month for more than a six month period and had received under ten links to their website.
I believe that a far better approach is to write excellent content, optimize your website properly, have a blog, do a regular e-newsletter, and if you really feel you must, write free articles for article sites that include a link back to you in the footer. I have been able to get placement for sites on Google and the other search engines for myself and clients without link programs.
Does that mean that people don’t link to my site, no, people will link to sites that provide valuable information, freebies, whitepapers, and content that enriches their own visitor’s experience. So stop wasting money and resources on link programs, get back to basics working your site. Make it the best it and can be and start providing valuable information that will really help people not just information on what you personally sell.